! Please check the warning I have added at the end of the chapter if you are susceptible to trigger subjects. !

I have placed it at the end, as not everyone requires the warning and it could spoil the impact of the chapter contents.

This story is rated M with an MA attachment, as it includes violence, injury and sexual content.


Chapter Summary,

Marianne and Brandon experience a loss like no other, which neither of them expected.


Brandon awoke and instinctively reached out in search of Marianne.

Finding her gone alarmed him, the cold sheets still holding her shape.

"My love?" he called quietly, looking about the room.

He sat up and his movement shifted the bedclothes, his eyes caught the sight of blood.

Lifting up the cover he found more blood than he expected, in a patch where she had been lying.

The sight made him recoil, but it soon turned to panic. "Marianne?" he called louder, slipping out of bed.

He padded around the room until he heard a cry of pain echo through the wall.

With no time he burst into her room, finding her curled up on the floor, a pool of blood seeping from her.

"Somethings wrong" she sobbed, before crying out again in agony.

Brandon was at her side in seconds, his eyes wide with worry. "What can I do!"

"Doctor, Elinor" she panted, "Please"

He leapt to his feet, relieved to hear the maid had risen to light the fires.

"Hannah!" he called, startling the girl as she approached the first room.

"Yes, Sir" she replied.

"Send for the Doctor this moment, Miss Marianne is unwell" he ordered, "Quickly!"

The maid threw down her tools and flew towards the stairs, already shouting for Mr Laine.

Brandon returned to Marianne who was trying to stand.

"My love" he cried, "Stay where you are"

"It hurts" she sobbed, grabbing his arm to support her. "Please make it stop"

Lifting her into his arms, he carried her to the bed, hoping lying down would relieve some of this unexplained pain.

Nothing he could do seemed to help her or the blood that kept seeping from under her nightgown.

He was left to simply cradle her, feeling the most defenceless he had since losing Eliza.

Those thoughts once again crept into his mind, was every woman he ever loved destined to leave him?

Marianne gripped his frame tightly. Having him there was some relief but this unholy pain was not ceasing. Was she to expect this every month till she conceived a child and then for how long after? Surely this pain could not be borne every month, she could not survive it.

What seemed like an age passed before Laine, accompanied by the housekeeper and the Doctor finally burst into the room.

Both servants were equally horrified but the Doctor read the situation with skilled efficiency.

"Colonel, be so good as to leave us. You will not want to be here for much longer"

Brandon made no move to leave. "How can I leave my wife when she is in such agony?"

"You love your wife Sir, you have summoned me to cure her, please allow me to do so," the doctor replied.

Marianne urged him, "Christopher, please go"

The Doctor also addressed the servants, "Madam I shall require your assistance, but you good man must leave with the Colonel. This is a delicate matter"

Pressing a kiss to her head, Brandon pulled himself away from her side. "I love you"

"I love you" whispered Marianne, before another cry of pain tore her in half.

"Gentlemen please!" urged the Doctor.

Laine held the door open for Brandon who left the room in a trance.


Brandon paced the corridor outside the room.

Laine had insisted that he change from his nightclothes, lest he should suffer from the cold morning. But at this moment he felt nothing.

Every so often a servant would peek from the stairwell and Laine would wave them away, all of them below concerned for their new mistress.

After almost two hours, Brandon jolted at the sound of the door handle shifting.

The Doctor had Marianne's blood on his shirt and arms, which he had partially cleaned off, the housekeeper was laying a towel over a chamber pot with tears on her face.

Brandon's eyes snapped to Marianne who lay sleeping on the bed. "How is she?"

"I have given her a heavy dose of ether" the doctor replied, "The pain would be unbearable if she were awake"

He paused, "the matter is delicate Colonel, where may I speak with you in private?"

With no real emotion, Brandon led him to his own room, which he now saw had small drops of blood across the floor.

"Please sit Colonel" the Doctor urged.

As he did so Brandon spoke. "I will not pretend and say that I understand the time of a woman's bleeding, "But surely that is not normal, even she admitted that"

The Doctor nodded, "I will be frank with you Sir, how long have you known your wife was pregnant?"

Brandon's eyes narrowed, "Say that again?"

"Miss Marianne, how long have you known she was with child?" repeated the doctor.

"I did not know she was" he replied. "She was not aware either"

"You are sure?"

"Yes I am sure" replied Brandon sharply. "Just last night she became upset as her bleed had come and that meant she was not-not with child"

"It was quite early in the pregnancy which would explain why no symptoms had presented themselves" the doctor concluded. "A heavy bleeding can often be mistaken for it"

"Mistaken for what?" urged Brandon.

The Doctor took a deep breath. "Your wife has had a miscarriage Colonel, she has lost the baby she was carrying"

Brandon could barely comprehend the emotion that swelled in him. "Why?" he demanded. "How?"

"In this age of medicine I wish I could present you with an answer," the doctor replied bitterly. "But it seems that God and nature still hold mysteries that we cannot yet explain. You wife is young, healthy and in her childbearing years, I cannot make sense of it"

"But she-she will be well again?" asked Brandon desperately. "Doctor I cannot lose her!"

"Miss Marianne will be well, after a period of recovery and rest I am hopeful that she will conceive again" the man assured him. "Though the outward appearance of this event seemed so violent, the foetus itself left her body with little resistance. I am sure no permanent damage has been done to her."

Brandon's eyes were locked to the floor. "Thank you, Doctor"

"This is a delicate matter Sir, but as your wife is not able to make the decision, what do you wish to have done with the foetus?" asked the Doctor gently. "I can take it with me now and ensure it is properly buried-"

"Our child will be buried on this land" finished Brandon. "You will leave it here with me"

"Of course" understood the Doctor. "I have left with your housekeeper various medical and herbal remedies that will ease your wife's pain, and I offer you my sincere condolences Colonel"

"Thank you, for your knowledge and efficiency Sir" replied Brandon.

Before he took his leave the Doctor added, "Your wife is asleep but she will be able to sense your presence, and possibly can hear you"

"Yes, I will go to her" he breathed. "Thank you"


Brandon allowed the Doctor to collect his belongings and leave before entering the room.

The housekeeper was at Marianne's bedside and a maid was beginning to clean the blood from the floor.

Upon seeing him entered the housekeeper, Mrs Andrews urged the maid out.

"I am so terribly sorry Sir," she said sadly. "For you both"

"Thank you Mrs Andrews" sighed Brandon. "As long as Marianne is well we can both survive this"

The older woman looked towards the chamber pot where the baby had been placed, "You will wish to bury the child?"

"With urgency" he replied. "I beg you to speak with the gardeners to arrange somewhere in the grounds by the house that would be suitable, marked with a flowering bush of some sort"

"I will see to this moment" the woman replied, quietly taking her leave.

Finally alone with Marianne, Brandon released his tears.

"Oh, my dearest" he wept, pressing a kiss to her hand. "I am sorry I could not stop this"

As he spoke, she gave a small whimper as if she wished to reply, though her eyes remained shut in slumber.

"I will go nowhere" he vowed, brushing his hand over her soft hair. "You shall not be alone like this"

"Come back to me soon my love" he whispered. "For I shall be quite lost until you do"


Trigger Warning - This chapter contains descriptions and mentions of miscarriage, including the event and the aftermath.